BP: Relief well on hold for test on new cap « chiapetti

BP says it stopped drilling on a relief well meant to plug its Gulf of Mexico oil leak while the energy giant prepares to test a new cap on the well.

Kent Wells, a BP senior vice president, said they were delaying drilling by up to 48 hours as a precaution.

"I'm anticipating anywhere from 24 to 48 hours," Wells said during a technical update Wednesday.

A team will decide mid-day on the path forward after BP halted critical tests on a new, tightly sealed cap Tuesday, Wells said.

"We want to move forward with this as soon as we are ready for it. But we don't want to move forward with inconclusive results," Wells said. "We need to make sure this is right. As much as we want to do things as soon as possible, we want to make sure they are absolutely correct."

National Incident Commander Thad Allen said in a statement Tuesday night that the cap process "may benefit from additional analysis" that would be performed overnight and Wednesday, USA TODAY colleague Rick Jervis reports. Allen did not say when the tests would start.

The decision was made after Allen met with federal officials, scientists and geologists.

If the cap works, it will allow BP to stop the oil from leaking into the sea, either by holding all the oil inside the well machinery or, if the pressure is too great, channeling some through pipes to as many as four collection ships, the Associated Press reports.

The best hope for ending the leak completely comes from drilling two relief wells through the seafloor to reach the well and pumping it with mud and cement.

Since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers, between 90.4 and 178.6 million gallons of oil have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.

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BP: Relief well on hold for test on new cap

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